Thursday, May 21, 2015

Story by Sarah Needleman in the May 21, 2015 Wall Street Journal. You can link to the story here, and the text is pasted below.

Saudi Girls Revolution’ is a
mobile game made by NA3M, a company whose founder and chief executive is
Saudi Arabian Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud, above, grandson of the
brother of the king.
Photo:
SHANITA SIMS

Saudi Girls Revolution’ is a
mobile game made by NA3M, a company whose founder and chief executive is
Saudi Arabian Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud, above, grandson of the
brother of the king.
Photo:
SHANITA SIMS

Saudi Arabian women this year will finally get the right to drive. It
will just have to be in a post-apocalyptic world filled with baboon
kings, crystal giants, fire dancers, mutants and zombie cybersoldiers.

That’s the setting for the coming mobile videogame “Saudi Girls
Revolution,” in which a group of young Saudi women race souped-up
motorcycles to fight the evil tyrannical rulers of a corrupted Arabian
Empire. It is being made by NA3M, a company with offices in Jordan and
Denmark whose founder and chief executive is Saudi Arabian Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud, grandson of the brother of the king.
“I
hope every single individual who owns a phone plays,” says the
31-year-old prince. He even means his royal family members. “Their
status doesn’t change the fact that they’re still consumers,” he says.
“Saudi
Girls Revolution” is set in the late 21st century, where a world war
over the loss of natural resources has wiped out three-quarters of
Earth’s population. The one city untouched by war: Riyadh, rich with
water. After the death of the king, unrest leads to brutal government
camps for women.
Enter the eight heroines of “Saudi Girls
Revolution.” Dressed in abayas—the full-length black robes worn by some
Muslim women—they drive high-speed motorbikes equipped with magical
shields and energy blasters, fighting villains and oppressors across
treacherous landscapes.
These “Mu’tazilah,” a name with roots in
Arabic and Islamic culture that means those who break away or stand
apart, possess distinct personalities and backgrounds that loosely
reflect various groups of Saudi Arabian society, according to the game’s
creators. Um Bandar is the wise, elderly ringleader who teaches women
to fight for themselves. Asma and Allanoud are twins who push against
religious sectarianism. Hussa is gay; Leila is from the disconnected
upper class of society. There is even an “ass-kicking” cyborg, Prince Fahad says. He likens their skills to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A 35-second video on YouTube gives a taste of
the game. In the teaser, the shadow of a woman stands beside a
motorcycle, her hair and abaya blowing in the wind. Smoke rises amid
debris and rain, as a red meteor falls from the sky. In the background, a
woman sings: “From far away they came to life with knowledge. They
changed our world then left us without warning.”
Choosing an
alternate-universe version of Saudi Arabia for the game’s vehicular
setting might seem pointed, considering women there are forbidden to
drive. While no law explicitly prohibits them from getting behind the
wheel, the government has refused to grant licenses to women.

A poster promoting the
coming mobile videogame ‘Saudi Girls Revolution,’ in which a group of
young Saudi women race souped-up motorcycles to fight evil.
Photo:
NA3M

Dozens of Saudi women in recent years have protested the decadeslong
ban by driving cars in the kingdom. Still, a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry reaffirmed the ban last October, warning that strong measures
would be taken against offenders. Earlier this year, two women were
detained for more than 70 days for challenging the ban.
Prince
Fahad says there is no political motive behind “Saudi Girls Revolution,”
though he hopes it will “inspire women to see themselves in roles that
are equal to men.” The website for NA3M says concepts like the one
behind the game can “challenge convention.” (Mostly, though, it says it
wants people to “enjoy a kick-ass game.”)
Prince Fahad, who lives
in London, grew up playing foreign-made games with powerful female
characters like Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider.” After graduating from
Stanford University in 2007, he spent two years at Facebook Inc. working
on an Arabic version of the social network.
He wanted to empower
Saudi women by showing them—literally—in the driver’s seat. “If we can
tell people stories about women driving, maybe they will, maybe it will
actually happen,” he says.
Several characters, Prince Fahad says, are named after relatives, like his grandmother.
The
inspiration for some villains, such as the game’s evil baboon kings,
comes from plants and animals in Saudi Arabian cities. Take Ta’if, for
example, where baboons there roam freely, coercing bananas, dates and
other fruits from passersby. “If the baboons don’t get what they want,
they jump on your car,” he says. “You have to pay the toll.”
It
isn’t the first time Prince Fahad has drawn from real life for games. He
says an earlier NA3M game, “Run Camel Run,” was inspired by his father,
who collects hundreds of camels. Some compete in camel beauty pageants.
“My
dad is very conservative,” the prince says, adding that his father
wanted him to become an engineer. “He had reservations about me doing
anything untraditional when it comes to working. But now he loves [“Run
Camel Run”]. It’s his favorite game.”
“Saudi Girls Revolution” is
slated for release on the Apple Inc. and Google Inc. app stores
sometime later this year. It will be free to download and paired with a
digital comic book that tells the back stories of the eight heroines.

An early rendering of a
bike being considered for ‘Saudi Girls Revolution,’ which is still
under development and slated for release later this year.
Photo:
NA3M

“I wanted to engage the Saudi community…to allow them to be
comfortable and familiar and used to these types of visuals,” Prince
Fahad says. He says he anticipates some backlash in Saudi Arabia over
the driving theme, but not from his immediate family because he was
raised by strong, independent women.
Videogames that touch on
politics, religion and social issues aren’t new. The Sims allowed
players to create gay characters since the first game in the
life-simulation series was published in 2000. The annual Christian Game
Developers Conference promotes games made “specifically to glorify God.”
And in the 2014 mobile game “Kim Jong Jetpack,” players take on the
role of the North Korean leader and try to save the world from an
invasion of evil unicorn pigs, or “unipigs.”
But few, if any,
videogames can boast developer credentials linked to royalty. “It makes a
huge statement,” says Asi Burak, president of Games for Change, a
nonprofit that focuses on inspiring social change through videogames.
Prince Fahad spoke at the group’s New York gathering in April.
“You
have someone [who’s] part of the establishment in a huge Arab
country…starting a game company to deal with Arab culture and Arab
themes,” Mr. Burak says. “It’s edgy.”Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

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About Me

I'm a freelance writer based in Maine. I lived in Saudi Arabia for many years. I studied Arabic in college eons ago and married my college sweetheart, a fellow Arabic student. My first novel, A CARAVAN OF BRIDES, is set in Saudi Arabia. I'm working on my second novel while writing feature stories about the Middle East. I am also the co-founder and Administrative Director of the Arabic Music Retreat.